Posted March 15, 200916 yr Comic Relief storms to the top of the singles chart as U2 hold on the albums. NEW 01 Vanessa Jenkins & Bryn West Feat. Sir Tom Jones & Robin Gibb (Barry) Islands In The Stream It’s all change at the top again; as for a third successive week the highest new entry enters at No1. It belongs to the second official Comic Relief single (Barry) Islands In The Stream and ensures that; after The Saturdays stalled at No2 last Sunday; 2009 becomes 8th consecutive odd year to record a Comic Relief No1. Vanessa ‘Nessa’ Jenkins and Bryn West are characters from the hit BBC sitcom Gavin & Stacey, played by Ruth Jones and Rob Brydon. Ruth Jones writes the series along with James Corden who plays Smithy. The (Barry) in the title refers to one of the main locations in the sitcom: Barry, Wales. This is the second time that characters from sitcoms have been transposed onto a Comic Relief single: following Brian Potter (Peter Kay, Pheonix Nights) and Andy Pipkin (Matt Lucas, Little Britain) on a re-recording of The Proclaimers 1988 No11 hit I’m Gonna Be (500 Miles) in March 2007. Sir Tom Jones is the Pontypridd born much-loved singer-songwriter and entertainer. He rose to fame in the sixties as a sex symbol with an exuberant stage act. After the brief set back of his debut single Chills And Fever failing to chart and radio1 initially refusing to play his second single It’s Not Unusual; as 60’s pirate radio station radio Caroline picked up on It’s Not Unusual it quickly climbed to the top of the charts in March 1965. Tom Jones most successful single of his career came a year later when The Green Green Grass Of Home reached No1 in December 1966. It stayed in control for 7 weeks including the Christmas No1; ending the Beatles run of three consecutive Christmas chart toppers 1963-65. The Green Green Grass Of Home went on to become the 10th biggest seller of the 1960’s shifting over 1.205 million copies. By now Tom Jones was concentrating mainly on his lucrative stage shows in Las Vegas. However the hits continued to come through the late 60’s and early 70’s; the largest of which were: I'll Never Fall In Love Again (#2 1967), I'm Coming Home (#2 1967), Delilah (#2 1968) and Till (#2 1971). During the 70’s his popularity began to decline and after The Young New Mexican Puppeteer reached No6 in April 1972 his next top30 hit would be 15 years away when A Boy From Nowhere reached No2 in April 1987. In 1999 Tom Jones launched a major comeback with the collaborations project Reload. The album reached No1 three times in October 1999, May and June 2000; spawning 5 top30 hits the biggest of which were: Sex Bomb with Mousse T (No3 May 2000); Mama Told Me Not To Come with the Stereophonics (No4 March 2000); and Burning Down The House with the Cardigans (No7 September 1999). His last appearance in the top40 was featuring on Chicane’s May 2006 No7 hit Stoned In Love. His appearance on (Barry) Islands In The Stream provides him with his third UK No1 and span between No1 hits of just over 42 years. Islands In The Stream was originally written for US Country superstars Kenny Rogers and Dolly Parton and reached No7 in UK at the end of 1983 by The Bee Gees. It was in a period when The Bee Gees penned major hits for a number of massive stars at the time. Barbara Streisand Woman In Love (No1 1980), Dionne Warwick Heartbreaker (No2 1982) and Dianna Ross Chain Reaction (No1 1986). A reworking of the chorus from Islands In The Stream formed the basis of former Fugees’ member Pras Michel’s No2 hit Ghetto Supastar (That Is What You Are) in 1998. The Bee Gees were a trio of brothers: Barry, Robin, and Maurice Gibb who were born on the Isle Of Man before moving to Chorlton, Manchester before emigrating to Brisbane, Australia in their childhood. (Barry) Isands In The Stream by entering at the top ensures The Bee Gees become the first act to ever have writing credits on No1’s in 5 decades: 1960’s, 70’s, 80’s, 90’s and now 00’s. In the 1960’s they topped the charts in October 1967 with Massachusetts (4 weeks) and again in September 1968 with I've Gotta Get A Message To You. In the 70’s chart toppers came with Night Fever (2 weeks April 1978) and Tragedy (2 weeks March 1979). As well as topping the chart themselves for 4 weeks with You Win Again in October 1987 the Bee Gees penned Barbara Streisand’s Woman In Love No1 for 3 weeks in October 1980 and Dianna Ross’ Chain Reaction No1 for 3 weeks in March 1986. The 1990’s saw Bee Gee’s covers come into vogue after N-Trance took their interpretation of Stayin’ Alive to No2 in 1995. Take That’s last 1990’s single was a cover of How Deep Of Your Love which spent 3 weeks at No1 in March 1996. That left Boyzone as the major boy band and allowed them to follow suit and cover a Bee Gees hit and record their first UK No1 with Words in October 1996. The most successful cover of a Bee Gee’s record came at the end of 1998 when Steps covered the 1979 No1 Tragedy; on the double A-side with Heartbeat; which became huge in the Christmas party season and topped the charts in early 1999 moving 2-5-5-8-8-6-4-1-2-3-3-3-6-10-10- in it’s first 15 weeks on the chart and sold over 1.15 million copies. Thus (Barry) Islands In The Stream gives them a No1 in 00’s. Robin Gibb has made three previous solo appearances in the top40; the most notable was Saved By The Bell, which reached No2 in the summer of 1969. More recently Please reached No23 in February 2003 and he then featured on Fame Academy contestant Alistair Griffin’s My Lovers Prayer, which reached No5 in January 2004. (Barry) Islands In The Stream is the 27th consecutive No1 by a 27th different artist the longest such run since 29 consecutive No1’s by 29 different artists topped the charts between February 1991 (K.L.F. Feat. Children Of The Revolution 3AM Eternal) and April 1993 (Bluebells Young At Heart). A run proceeded by Queen Innuendo and ended by George Michael & Queen’s Five Live EP. 01 02 Flo Rida Feat. Ke$ha Right Round Flo Rida becomes the second successive No1 single to be knocked off the top spot after just a week on downloads alone following Kelly Clarkson last week. However with the physical release still a week off it raises the interesting possibility that Flo Rida’s Right Round could become the first single since Shakira’s Hips Don’t Lie in 2006 to climb back up to the No1 spot in the coming weeks. His sales have received a boost after performing on Comic Relief Does Top Of The Pops on Friday. 06 07 T.I. Feat. Justin Timberlake Dead And Gone A physical release fails to arrest Dead And Gone’s slide; T.I. loses more ground to another Comic Relief charity record; moving 58-47-30-17-4-6-7- in the past seven weeks. 11 08 Kings Of Leon Use Somebody Use Somebody’s use in ITV1’s Sunday blockbuster Dancing On Ice as well as Thursday’s Comic Relief’s Kilimanjaro documentary, sends it back into the top10 for an impressive twelfth week; trailing only Daniel Powter’s Bad Day (13) and Nickelback’s Rockstar (14) in terms of most weeks inside the top10 for a No2 record this decade 29-29-38-48-50-30-25-21-17-15-10-2-7-5-6-5-8-8-10-11-12-3-7-11-8-. As Sex On Fire is named the biggest selling download of all-time in the UK with more than 560,000 units downloaded since last September. 13 09 Akon Feat. Colby O'Donis & Kardinal Offishall Beautiful 31-year-old Senegalese-American hip-hop singer-songwriter racks up his 8th UK Top10 smash as Beautiful’s popularity continues to grow after its physical release last week. It gives Colby O’Donis his second top10 featuring credit after appearing on Lady GaGa’s No1 smash Just Dance back in January. It is also Kardinal Offishall’s second appearance in the top10 having featured on Texas’ 2003 hit Carnival Girl that reached No9. Beautiful’s chart run reads: 60-56-xx-xx-xx-xx-66-59-53-52-56-54-56-30-13-9-. NEW 10 Oasis Fallin’ Down A return to top ten form for Mancunian rock band Oasis with Fallin’ Down after their last single I’m Outta Time by peaking at No12 ended an incredible run of 22 successive top10 hits. 8 No1, 17 top3 and 19 top5 hits to date demonstrates that Oasis have been and are one of the most successful rock bands in history. The Gallagher Brothers Noel and Liam are the only remaining members of the original line up and the principle songwriters behind their material. Oasis’ biggest debut on the single chart was D’You Know What I Mean which shifted 377,000 copies in it’s first week in July 1997, the album Be Here shifted an incredible 696,000 copies in just three days in August 1997 to become the fastest selling album of all-time. It has been confirmed that last year their eighth single Wonderwall that reached No2 in November 1995 had sold it’s millionth copy. Robson & Jerome’s I Believe blocked Wonderwall; a million seller it now has in its sights to overhaul in the next twelve months. Fallin’ Down is the third single from last years No1 seventh studio album Dig Your Own Soul. Following The Shock Of The Lightening (No3) and I’m Out Of Time (No12) last autumn. Rounding out the top ten: The Saturdays Comic Relief single Just Can’t Get Enough slips a place to No3 2-3-; as does Lady GaGa with Poker Face 30-26-28-24-22-15-3-3-4- to make way for (Barry) Islands In The Stream. Meanwhile Taylor Swift holds steady at No5 with Love Story 22-2-5-5-; Kelly Clarkson slides two places to No6 with My Life Would Suck Without You moving 1-4-6- so far, which is somewhat atypical for a No1 record these days. NEW 14 September Can’t Get Over An eighth top twenty hit for the independent Ministry Of Sound label Hard2Beat whose biggest success remains Basshunter’s Now You’re Gone that topped the chart for 5 weeks at the beginning of 2008. September is 24-year-old Swede Petra Eos Marklund who scores a second top twenty UK hit with Can’t Get Over following last Aprils No5 Cry For You. However September has had a successful musical career in Sweden since 2003 releasing three albums: September, In Orbit and Dancing Shoes. Arguably one of her biggest euro hits Satellites has yet to chart on these shores yet. 19 18 James Morrison & Nelly Furtado Broken Strings Broken Strings is back on the climb following an impressive acoustic performance from James Morrison on Comic Relief Does Top Of The Pops last Friday. To date Broken Strings has moved: 73-51-31-18-6-4-5-2-3-4-5-7-6-7-14-19-18-. 40 20 Beyoncé Halo An impressive twenty-place climb for Beyoncé’s third single Halo from her current third No7 solo studio album I Am Sasha Fierce. Halo looks set to become her fourth top10 success in under six months following If I Were A Boy (No1), Listen (No8) and Single Ladies (Put A Ring On It) (No7). 42 27 Katy Perry Thinking Of You 24-year-old Californian pop singer Katheryn Elizabeth Hudson aka Katy Perry scores her third top30 hit from her No11 debut album One Of The Boys. Thinking Of You is the follow up to her debut single I Kissed A Girl which topped the chart for 5 weeks last August and the No4 smash Hot ‘N’ Cold which spent 11 weeks inside the top10 at the end of last year. In that context reaching No27 in its physical release week Thinking Of You has to be considered rather disappointing. It is however the first single she has released not to be penned by the song writing talent of Max Martin and Dr Luke; suggesting that her own material may not have the same commercial appeal. So far Thinking Of You has moved: 63-62-62-63-50-42-42-27-. 55 32 Leona Lewis Run Leona Lewis’ former No1 rebounds twenty-three places after it’s use last Sunday on ITV1’s popular programme Dancing On Ice. 1-1-3-2-2-4-9-12-20-26-31-38-43-55-32- 54 37 Metro Station Shake It Metro Station is a Californian American electro-rock band active since 2006. Shake It is their debut single, which climbs seventeen places into the top40 this week. Band member Trace Cyrus is the older brother of Hannah Montana star Miley Cyrus. 50 39 Annie Lennox Shining Light 54-year-old Aberdeen born Scottish singer-song writer Annie Lennox first came to prominence as the lead singer with the pop group The Tourists; who also comprised of Sunderland musicians Peet Coombes and David Stewart and scored five top75 hits between 1977 and 1980. The largest of which was I Only Want To Be With You that reached No4 in December 1979. The band split in 1980 amid creative differences with Coombes and legal wrangling with their management; Lennox and Stewart went on to form the Eurythmics. Despite a shaky start with their 1981 debut album In The Garden flopping and considerable personal adversity the Eurythmics made their commercial breakthrough in March 1983 when Sweet Dreams (Are Made Of These) reached No2. Between 1980 and 1991 the Eurythmics scored 27 top75 hits: 9 top10 hits including their biggest success There Must Be An Angel (Playing With My Heart); which featured a Stevie Wonder harmonica solo; reached No1 in July 1985. The group split in 1990 and a best of package was released in 1991 and duly reached No1. Annie Lennox released her first solo album Diva in 1992 to much critical acclaim and commercial success reaching No1 and selling over 1.2 million copies in the UK alone. The album yielded 5 singles Why (No5 April 1992), Precious (No23 June 1992), Walking On Broken Glass (No 8 September 1992), Cold (No26 October 1992) and Little Bird (No3 February 1993) that was a double A-side with Love Song For A Vampire from the film Bram Stoker’s Dracula. Lennox’s biggest solo success came in March 1995 when her cover of The Lover Speak’s No More I Love You’s spent 2 weeks at No2 held off the top by Céline Dion’s million selling Think Twice before giving way to Cher and Outhere Brothers. Her second solo album was Medusa a collection of covers and entered at No1 in March 1995. The hits A Whiter Shade Of Pale (No16), Waiting In Vain (No31) and Something So Right (No44) followed. Annie Lennox began concentrating on family commitments. In 1998 following the death of former Tourists band mate Peet Coombes Lennox re-established contact with Dave Stewart following the funeral. By 1999 they had reformed the Eurythmics releasing the No4 album Peace and the singles I Saved The World Today (No11) and 17 Again (No27). The Ultimate Collection was released in November 2005 reaching No5 and the single I’ve Got A Life reached No14. Lennox’s third solo studio album Bare released in June 2003 reached No3 despite no singles being released from the album. In 2004 Lennox won an Oscar with Fran Walsh and Howard Shore for Best Song (Into The West) from the film The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King. Her fourth solo album Songs Of Mass Destruction reached No7 in October 2007, the single unfortunately flopped at No58. Shining Light is a cover of Northern Irish alternative rock band Ash’s February 2001 No8 hit and provides Annie Lennox with her first top40 single for nearly 14 years as her solo greatest hits package enters at No2 this week. Albums It’s a second week at the top of the album chart for Irish rockers U2 with No Line On The Horizon. It’s only the second album so far this year to spend two consecutive weeks at No1 after Bruce Springsteen’s Working On A Dream. As I mentioned last week only three previous U2 albums have spent more than a week at No1 on the album chart; they are: The Unforgettable Fire (2wks 1984), The Joshua Tree (2wks 1987) and How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb (3wks 2004). Quite a turnaround that No Line On The Horizon should become only the 4th of their 10 No1’s to score an extended run at the top considering the less than favourable reaction to the No12 lead single Get On Your Boots. The highest new entry goes to Annie Lennox with The Annie Lennox Collection straight in at No2; her first solo greatest hits compilation covering her work from 1992 to 2009. It duly becomes her highest charting album since Medusa topped the album chart in March 1995. Her debut album Diva also topped the chart, twice in fact in 1992 and 1993 selling over 1.2 million copies. Her 2003 album Bare reached No3 while 2007’s Songs Of Mass Destruction reached No7. New at No3 is Kelly Clarkson’s fourth studio equalling the peak position of her most successful album the million selling Breakaway No3 in July 2005; but falls a place short of the No2 entry made by My December in July 2007. Her debut Thankful peaked at No41. Meanwhile Kings Of Leon’s epic Only By The Night slides a place to No4 after 25 weeks inside the top7 1-1-2-3-3-4-6-4-6-7-5-4-3-3-2-1-2-2-3-2-2-1-2-3-4-. Next is a new entry at No5 for Taylor Swift’s first UK album release Fearless featuring the No2 smash Love Story. Also new at No6 is also another debut this time for Britain’s Got Talent finalist/loser Faryl Smith who was praised for her operatic ability by Simon Cowell. She signed a 2.3 million pound record contract in the aftermath of the show and now scores a top10 album with her debut Faryl. With four new entries to the top10 this week inevitably there are some hefty falls for some of last weeks top5 albums; starting with The Prodigy Invaders Must Die which slides five places to No7 1-2-7-; Lady GaGa slides four places to No8 with the No3 The Fame 3-4-4-5-13-7-5-4-8-. Take That’s former No1 album Circus slides two places to No9 and finally Lily Allen’s It’s Not Me It’s You eases 5-10 having moved 1-2-3-5-10-. Next Week On the singles chart it’s shaping up to be a three-way battle between Jenkins/West/Jones/Gibb, Flo Rida and Lady GaGa for next weeks No1. Also watch out for The Pet Shop Boys new one Love Etc. Other physical releases out today/tomorrow include: Doman & Gooding, Keane, Röyksopp, Laura Izibor, La Roux, Roll Deep and Goldie Lookin’ Chain. On the albums it’s all about Mothers Day with Ronan Keating poised to capitalise with the not too subtle Songs For My Mother. Edited March 16, 200916 yr by Ethan.
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